You all realize that the TSA will screen rail passengers the same way they do for air travel, right?

Your typical airline experience goes like this. You have to get up a few hours early. You can only pack 2 bags and a carry on. There's really no cheap or inexpensive way to get to an airport so unless you get a ride, you have to cab it or pay to park several miles away (if it's parking... add an extra 15 minutes to your travel time). Sometimes you have to wait in line for 20-30 minutes... just to check your baggage. You then have to walk to security where you can wait in line usually somewhere between 15-30 minutes. Then you have to walk to your gate, which can sometimes be a 15-20 minute distance away. You're looking at 1-2 hours of check-in time for an airport. Then when you're at the gate, you have to be at least a half hour early. You get on the plane and you wait 20-30 minutes for everybody to board, and then for the next 15 minutes after takeoff, you're not allowed to use ANY electronic devices. Nor can you use them for the last 15 minutes. If you transfer flight, add in additional half hour of wireless/internet blackout, and an additional 1-3 hours of time spent at a gate. And this is all assuming you don't have a delay. And when you're done with that, you have ANOTHER 15 minutes to get to the baggage claim and another 15 minutes to get your bags (if you checked any in).

Why are people here trying to claim that air travel is any way convenient or preferable? I don't care how fast it takes to get you from point A to point B. People do realize that you are spending hours of your time just checking in, checking out, and waiting or in a wireless/internet blackout, right? And you gamble every single time that everything will be on time.

Have you been on a train? You don't have rigorous bag screening procedures, you don't have long lines, you don't have long sprints to get to a gate, you can pack whatever you want (including food) and there typically aren't major baggage restrictions, and once you're on the train you can open your computer and sit down and relax... That's it. You've literally cut hours of hassle off.

So yeah, if a plane gets you from point A to point B in 2 hours of flight time and a train can get me there in 5? You bet your ass I'm taking a train. And I'd save hundreds of dollars per trip.